Know your benefits

The UFT Welfare Fund provides dental benefits through three types of programs: the Scheduled Benefit Plan, which offers more choices but can entail out-of-pocket expenses; Dentcare, a no-cost dental HMO; and the Florida Dental Discount Plan for year-round Florida residents.

If you and your spouse or domestic partner are both UFT members, you don’t have to choose one or the other’s benefits — you have the benefit of both when it comes to certain Welfare Fund benefits. With special coordination of benefits, you can receive dental, optical, hearing aid and prescription drug benefits from each other’s coverage.

In the event of a member’s death, the UFT Welfare Fund provides a benefit that is payable on a decreasing scale to the beneficiary(ies) of in-service members. This benefit is in addition to any privately held insurance coverage the member may have.


A house fire kills a beloved teacher. A student dies of illness or in a violent incident. An educator experiences a workplace assault or robbery. These and other traumatic events take place regularly in the life of a school system that comprises well over a million students and adults. Did you know that there’s a place to turn to for support — both on- and off-site — when tragedy strikes?

The UFT Welfare Fund provides a hearing aid benefit of $1,000. The benefit provides one hearing aid every three years (counted from the date of your last purchase). The benefit includes a comprehensive audiological evaluation, ear impression and the required visits necessary for the proper fitting/use of the hearing aid.

Are you or a close family member struggling to cope with a health-related problem? The UFT has created social services to help that are free, strictly confidential and only a phone call away.

All eligible in-service UFT members and their dependents have prescription drug coverage through the UFT Welfare Fund. There are no waiting periods for this coverage

Train. Bus. Subway. Ferry. Paratransit. Parking your car at the commuter station. If you travel to work by public transportation, you can take part in the Commuter Benefits Program for UFT members, which now goes beyond New York City to cover the tristate area.

Adobe Photoshop CS 5 — regularly $999; extended student and teacher edition, for educators, only $199! Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 — regularly $539.95; for educators, only $89.95! These are some of the bargains that teachers are entitled to. Even building a teacher website to help reach parents and students can be free or very low-cost.